TRAVERSE CITY -- As you head out to do your holiday shopping in Traverse City, you may notice that two long-time downtown businesses are closing.

Hocus Pocus, a costume store that's been around for nearly 40 years, closed it's doors Monday night for good and is putting all it's merchandise online.

The owner Tom Cook  tell us that the winter months were just too slow and financially it make sense to switch to eBay, a platform that will bring in more customers.

Also preparing to shut down is Annie's, a card and gift shop, which has been around for nearly two decades.

Annie's Owner Kim Schmitz says she'll treasure the time she spent interacting with the community.  She says, "One great memory is our Annie's girls, that have worked here throughout the years and they come back in the summer. You get a chance to see how they've grown. I've loved really getting to know all of our customers, they've just been so friendly, best customers ever! We're ready to move on to the next chapter in our lives.

Schmitz says they sold the space in the building and will tentatively close the first week of January. Their "store closing" sale starts this Thursday.

Are you surprised these popular stores downtown are closing? Leave your comments below.